Kenyan agencies overwhelmed in aftermath of bombings

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) - Douglas Sidialo, who was blinded in the terrorist bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Kenya, cringes when he considers the shambles his life might have become.

"When you have lost sight, people think you are destined to become a beggar, shaking a plate in the streets for a few coins," the former salesman said.

Instead, Sidialo, 27, is contemplating a career as a psychologist or a lawyer. "It is my dream to learn a new profession, one where I can talk to people, and help them," he said.

Rarely does a blind Kenyan get such a chance.

But remorse over the horrific bombing that killed 213 people and wounded more than 5,400 has been so great that governments, particularly the United States, and private donors have made dreams possible. A nearly simultaneous bombing at the U.S. Embassy in Tanzania killed 11 people.

Still, the obstacles are many.

Kenya is an impoverished country beset by high-level corruption, massive unemployment and a paucity of resources.

"Life here is bad enough when you have your limbs, and nearly impossible for the disabled," said Wambui Kairo of the Kenya Red Cross Society.

When the bomb went off Aug. 7, Kenya didn't have a disaster plan. The wounded were ferried to hospitals in buses and cars because there were so few ambulances. Poorly supplied hospitals swiftly ran out of sutures, surgical gloves and pressure bandages, vital for the treatment of burn victims.

In the weeks that followed, another deficiency became clear: Kenya did not have enough trained personnel, equipment or surgical supplies to help those who need long-term care, rehabilitation or reconstructive surgery.

Agencies dedicated to helping Kenya's disabled often had nothing more than good intentions.

"Some of these groups, particularly the groups that deal with the disabled, are in tough shape," said Gregory Gottlieb, the U.S. Agency for International Development's emergency coordinator in Kenya.

Kenya Society for the Blind, for example, has helped the newly sightless adjust to their disabilities for more than 40 years, teaching them how to walk with white canes, attend to their hygiene, cook, clean, care for children and read Braille.

But in the past year, despite diligent efforts, the society has not found one job for a blind or visually impaired person.

"I can't really blame the employers. Our training has not been sophisticated," said Wilson Noreh, the society's director. In addition, Kenya does not encourage employers to hire the disabled.

Knitting, basket-weaving and farming have been the only training offered by the society, hobbled by an annual budget of just $530,000 in donations to serve Kenya's 280,000 partly or fully blind people. With the bombing, its caseload increased - at least 150 people were blinded or partially lost their sight.

"I wouldn't mind learning these things, weaving or knitting or farming, but this is not something that I would want to do as a profession," Sidialo said.

Nor would such work pay the bills for him, his wife and their 2-year-old daughter. The women who use machines to knit up to 35 sweaters a month earn just $42 - a tenth of Sidialo's previous salary as an aggressive salesman of motorcycles, generators and other goods.

"I have to eat, I have to pay rent, I have to take care of my family," he said.

Like others who were blinded in the bombing, Sidialo received $5,000 in compensation from a fund built from private donations. "I want to put my money into training. Training is very important," he said.

Until now, even the wealthy couldn't buy training in Kenya - nothing was offered. The blind society, for example, still doesn't have a single computer equipped with a voice synthesizer or Braille keys.

But the bombing has been a boon, of sorts, to local aid agencies.

Noreh said government and private donors have given the blind society an extra $139,000 in cash and equipment to cope with fallout from the blast.

USAID has $37 million to help repair damage from the bombing in Kenya alone. Some of that is earmarked to buy computers specially equipped for the sightless. Because no Kenyan is trained in teaching computer technology to the blind, a foreigner would have to be hired to do the teaching, or Kenyan instructors would have to be sent abroad to study.

Sidialo will be among the first students to use the new equipment, which is expected in January. Adept at using computers before the bombing, he would like to adjust to working blind.

Then, his goal is to go to university.

"The support others are giving to make me productive in life is very, very much appreciated," Sidialo said. "Being visually impaired is not the end of the world. It is the beginning of a new world."